BlackBerry Storm sells out hard and fast
By Nilay Patel 
posted November 21st 2008 3:03PM
posted November 21st 2008 3:03PM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted November 21st 2008 3:03PM
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Let me tell you the true story, i checked in many stores today to acertain the fact whether the 'Storm' is really selling out fast. No doubt it has been the best handset till date by Verizon, but it does not by all means proscribe to the hype by Verizon. The corporate store near my house informed me that they had only 30 in stock and it sold out within 2 hrs of the store opening at 8.00 a.m., which is false. I went into the store at 7.00 p.m. on Nov 21st. They were still selling them. Though the manager told me they had 4 in stock at that time and 6 people were in line to buy them. Then i went to the nearest Circuit city store, which has a Verizon store, at 8.00 p.m. cst they still had 3 in stock, two gentlemen before me bought them, when my turn came, i bought one but as luck would have it when the verizon customer rep tried to activate Blackberry storm, the phone just went dead and showed a 'Error 517' or something on the screen and asked to reload the software. I understood that the 'Storm' has a lot of sotware gliches, and i came out of it unhappy. The phone is type of OK but not great. It does not beat the iphone by any means. I am a verizon customer for 4 yrs, so i dont have a iphone nor am i going to switch to it. But the bottom line is that the Storm has some good features, but is cumbersome and has a lot of software issues to take car of.
I have zero evidence to back this up so digest at your discretion. The Verizon rep. for our company stated there was a glitch of some sort discovered shortly before the release, and all of the phones require a flash that Verizon is doing before each phone is shipped out. The rep. also stated that Verizon has an adequate supply of phones, it is just taking time to flash the units. We were also told that since we ordered our phones before 1:00pm Central Time Friday that our phones will ship Tuesday for Friday delivery (perfect - our office is closed that day). Maybe this will calm the storm created by the Storm.
I love how everyone is slamming the blackberry storm... There was negative reviews on the phone before it even came out on friday. RIM must be doing something right,to have that much haters talking crap on a phone before it even comes out..Here's a simple solution, don't buy it if you don't like it. Alot of the haters are iphone users,in my opinion, the iphone is a great phone, so is the storm,why does everyone have to argue over who has the best phone? Just buy what you want, verizon is america's largest cellphone carrier,and in my opinion, has the best coverage,especially in Hawaii,thats why I chose them as my cell phone provider. Verizon also gives you 30 days to test drive their network and they pay for the calls, its a no lose option to try them out,everyone should try the storm,or any phone,if they dont like it then they have nothing to lose, case solved...
OH here is a good story since everyone is giving their sold out Storm stories..I went to Verizon this mourning to buy a Storm, the line wasn't that big in Maui,maybe like 25 people max...I was like the 15th person in line,they sold out so fast,they only had around 7 storms i think, i was a little upset,so i called verizon customer care to complain about it, WELL, long story short, the verizon rep apologized with the inconvenience, told me verizon will ship a storm to me overnight weekend shipment by fed ex, free of charge.. if i known that, i would have never waited in line in the first place..Verizon has top customer service in my opinion, and i had service with every carrier,before i get hate responses..lol....I really miss my sidekick 2, that was one of the best phones i ever had, the new android tmobile phone reminds me alot of the sidekick,but its really outdated..the sidekick 3 would rule if it was 3g and tmobile had better coverage...
waited in line for a hour and a half to get one but I am loving it so far...
Turns out VZW knowingly released this w/ an unstable build of the OS after discovering a security flaw in the NEW version of the OS. Pretty lame. I think it's safe to assume that an update will be forthcoming very, very soon. That said...there's no excuse for releasing a shoddy version of a product to meet a deadline, but I do at least hope some of these sites (engadget included) goes back and revises their reviews to account for the new OS's whenever the update takes place.
@Gadgetman007....I found out the the same thing..there was a security issue with the software that was discovered bu RIM the day before release..they have corrected the issue but it is taking additional time to flash them...I ordered mine via customer service yesterday around 1030 am...The csr was really very helpful ( i have never had ANY issues with verizons customer service on the phone) However, I refuse to step foot into a store....unknowledgable sales staff, long waits etc etc ... anyway mine is supposed to ship on tuesday and be here by friday...gadetman you should see if you can cahnge your delivery address to your house or someplace you will be...
For all you naysayers out there..give this phone a chance..no its not an iphone but I remember reading all of the same comments about the iphone release that i'm reading about the storm release..I understand the OS is a bit laggy but if you would do some checking RIM has already released two software updates for this phone on thier website...Nothings perfect when it first comes out and I can be pretty confident in saying that RIM will make this right..They have to much to loose if they dont..as far as the WIFI if you are already a verizon customer you shouldnt need wifi and no this isnt being blocked by verizon it was blocked by RIM..there wasnt enough room to put in a wifi radio with all of the other cell radios this phone has to offer...I dont know about the surepress but i'm sure it is just one of those things we will have to get used to and once that happens texting and email speeds will be comparable to a traditional qwerty..
Bottom line if you dont like it or if your not willing to give it a chance then there are plenty of other phones and carriers out there that you can check out..me personally i'm gonna give it a shot and see how it works out .. I have been a longtime blackberry user as well as windows mobile both touch and qwerty...
Not hard to sell out when stores had 10 or less. TEH LAME!
I got one and it is soo worth the 4 hours i waited for it.I waited about 2 hours in the mall for them to call my name then waited another 2 hours for my phone to be activated then the system kept going now since everyone in the nation was selling them and activating them at the same time.So needless to say it took a long time.But i finally walked out of the storm with my very own blackberry storm and i would wait 4 hours again to get this one.I must say i was never one that would sit ouside of anywhere and wait for anything.I dont have the kind of patience for stuff like that.Very awesome phone.
Corporate stores here in Nashville recd. 15 to 25 Storms and of course sold out quickly even though they held back 19,000 at the warehouse instead of sending to stores to make for happy customers. While standing in line for 1 hour only to be told they had sold their allotment of 20, I played with their demo unit. All I can say is that, "It aint no iPhone." The fat & heavy Storm makes the iPhone look pretty svelte. I'll still be buying one, even though Verizon has so poorly handled this new release. After a year later, It's the best phone Verizon can come up with since they originally declined to sell the game-changing iPhone. Don't you just love big companies !!! The bigger they are the more dis-functional and mis-managed they become. Dahhh!
10man
After days of hype, I bought one but returned it a couple of hours later. From where I bought it (Austin, TX), the store had only 10 in stock for that first day. So to say they were sold out is way overstretched. I like my Bold better, much better, and will hold on to it, because the Storm is just too slow (I mean, way too slow), for one. And the landscape and portrait things drove me crazy on top of it: these modes switched back and forth almost out of control, and it took them time (like several seconds) before the right position came back the way it should be. In addition, those 'suretyping" and clicking are definitely not for me, and I made so many mistakes because the buttons are pretty small and not very well calibrated! I kept hitting the wrong keys, unless I missed the right keys (the keys I wanted to press on) on purpose toward the top of that key! I did not like the speaker on my unit either: the sound was not clear at all! My unit had OS v. 4.7.0.65 on it. Maybe that was why ...!?
That's precisely why, Tom.
That's precisely why, Tom
wow, engadget reply system...really?
I bought two Storms on Friday morning with the promise of overnight delivery by 12 the next day. I sat at home all day waiting for my new phones to arrive and guess what, they never came Wasted a whole day sitting around the house for a Fed Ex that never arrived. I sat on hold with "Customer Service" that couldn't even tell me when the items were going to ship. What a screw job, sell me a product you don’t have and then do nothing to compensate me for my troubles. Great way to kick off your new device by screwing your customers!
I arrive at 6:30am and #7 in line, I have been a verizon customer for the 10 years I have her in Harrisburg, PA. I went to a company store and was very happy with the services. They had 20 units at 8am with a second supply 20 later in the morning. They were only allowing one unit per account, but the second would be shipped, they said there about 1000 in the local warehouse. Most of the time was taken, with picking plan features and options, but it gave me time to play with the demo. All the staff was very knowable about the product.
All my friends told me to get an iPhone, but I want to use the phone to tater my desktop and cancel my DSL service. Not because I was unhappy with the service, I just do not use my home computer that much. Also, plan to cancel my land line phone, too. I spend my days test computer software the rule is 80% of the bugs are found in 20% of the time and the 20% of bugs take 80% for the time. I was told that a programming error was fould just days before release. so alot of the phone were held back, software updats will be coming soom, I guess they will SMS to push the system patches.
I'm in love.
The iPhone can not tater, yet. I have found the browser speed with the Storm to be better than my DSL sometimes. The battery did die on me yesterday, but I was playing with the phone all day. So the phone will on the charger whenever I am in the car or at home.
I wanted to replace my regular phone and Palm PDA. FYI, I have never used a BB or any other smartphone before.
The keyborad does take some getting use to, you have to want until the key turns blue. Also, you cannot use with gloves, as it needs your body heat to activate the screen.
Why would you need WiFi with a cellular phone?
Verizon has failed miserably at Launching the storm. I bought mine on line at 12:39am pst on 11-21-2008 and they still don't know when I will receive it. It's pending. Great network, but customer service is seriously lacking.